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Banned

As regular readers are by now acutely aware, Europeans are growing increasingly frustrated with officials’ response to the bloc’s worst refugee crisis since World War II.

To be sure, some countries were skeptical from the very beginning. Take Hungary for example, whose firebrand PM Viktor Orban built a series of migrant-be-gone fences late last summer and defended them with tear gas and water cannons.

Be that as it may, most Europeans were willing to give refugees the benefit of the doubt. That began to change after attacks on Paris killed some 130 people in November and sentiment took a decisive turn for the worst earlier this month when scores of sexual assaults allegedly perpetrated by men of “Arab origin” on New Year’s Eve created a bloc-wide scandal.

Now, right-wing movements like PEGIDA in Germany and the Soldiers of Odin in Finland are gaining popularity as nationalism rises from the ashes of Europe’s checkered past. Meanwhile, sales of gun and pepper spray are soaring and in a testament to just how frightened people are, one German town moved to ban male adult asylum seekers from public swimming pools.

In the latest example of how quickly things are spiraling out of control, far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders inadvertently incited a violent riot in tiny Heesch where town officials attempted to hold a public meeting to discuss plans to take in 500 refugees in the town over the next ten years.

Hours before the meeting was set to take place, Wilders called for all Islamic male asylum seekers to be locked in their asylum centers in order to “protect our women.” Shortly thereafter, a Facebook page “Protest AZC Heesch” garnered some 3,000 likes and before you knew it, 1,000 angry villagers actually stormed the castle - literally.

“The atmosphere turned nasty, and the meeting was abandoned as dozens of protesters tried to storm the town hall,” AFP writes adding that “the town gave police extra powers after the demonstration ran out of control."

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